Occupation forces besiege Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza, kill 12 patients in shelling

Twelve patients were killed and two medical staff wounded when Occupation forces bombed northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital in the early hours of Monday, according to the official Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA).

Medical sources told WAFA that the hospital has been besieged since dawn on Monday, with the Israeli military shelling the hospital with artillery fire and directing sniper fire at the upper floors from neighboring buildings. The Occupation is also using drones to target anyone moving in the vicinity, the medical sources added, which has prevented the staff from burying those killed this morning. 

Israel’s airstrikes and ground operations conducted have devastated northern Gaza, including much of Beit Lahia, where the Indonesian Hospital is located. Thousands of those injured or displaced by Israel’s constant bombardment and about 700 patients along with medical staff are currently inside the hospital. 

Alongside residential neighborhoods, Israeli troops have targeted schools and hospitals in particular where many of the more than 1 million displaced Palestinians and those wounded by the relentless bombardment have taken shelter.

In an interview with Al Jazeera this morning, Mohamed Zaqout, the general head of hospitals in Gaza, expressed his fear that the situation at the Indonesian Hospital could end up replicating what happened last week at the Shifa Medical Complex.

On November 15, Israeli forces raided Shifa Medical Complex, the largest health facility in Gaza, where at least 9,000 medical personnel, patients and displaced people were taking shelter. The Occupation military stormed the medical complex and then ordered thousands to evacuate , shooting at them as they fled.

“We are in a crisis. With every passing minute, there are tens of new injured people,” Zaqout said, adding that there are thousands still in the north under heavy and arbitrary bombardment.

Zaqout affirmed that Gaza’s health system has been severely weakened by the Occupation’s ongoing siege, massacres and the refusal to allow the entry of fuel and anything the hospital needs to provide necessary assistance to patients. “Medical staff insist on staying inside hospitals to treat injured patients,” he added. 

Palestinian National Council head Rawhi Fattouh called Israel’s targeting of hospitals and killing of 210 medical staff since it began its aggression on Gaza “war crimes” that “are aimed at forced displacement and ethnic cleansing to end any Palestinian presence in northern Gaza, with the aim of reoccupying it.”

With hospital facilities in Gaza’s north increasingly under threat, the Occupation has continued to demand that residents evacuate the entire area. According to aid organizations, at least 1.5 million people have already been forcibly displaced. Many of these people were forced to undertake a journey of about 20 km to the southern part of the coastal enclave on foot. During the journey they have continued to be targeted, despite Israel’s pledges to uphold “humanitarian pauses.” 

At least 13,000 people in the strip have been killed in Israel’s ongoing onslaught, and a further 30,000 wounded, the Palestinian Government Media Office said on Sunday.